Never Let You Fall
by Rainboom20
Summary: Donnie always catches April. But this time around, it's different.


**_Okay, so this is my first attempt at an Apritello story. It's a one-shot, so there won't be another chapter. I am working on a chapter story about Raph though. I'll probably write more of that before I post any of it._**

_**Anywho, if you have an account here on , or if your a guest, feel free to tell me what you think in the comments. Thanks!**_

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"April, you go with Donnie," Leo ordered me as we ran along the rooftops, trying to escape the giant hoard of Foot ninja that were pursuing us through the city. "He'll get you somewhere safe."

"Leo," I said crossly, my voice giving away no hint of the whine I wanted so badly to torture his leaderly ears with. "I can take care of myself. I'm training to be a kunoichi, remember? I don't need protecting." The blue clad leader frowned at me. I hated to admit it, but there was no arguing with that look.

So of course I argued with it.

"Come on April," Donnie ushered. "Don't argue." I didn't want to stop giving Leo the death stare for babying me, but I gave up. The eldest of the turtles followed me with his eyes as I began to branch away from the group with Donnie. My mental loss sent me deeper into the emotional pit of despair I had been falling into.

Donnie and I ran in silence for only five minutes, but it very well could have been five hours. It was extremely awkward; running alone with the purple clad turtle who I knew had a crush on me. I knew Donnie would never confess his true feelings toward me; he was too shy. It was a good thing, though. If he did get up enough courage to confess to me, it would make things weird between us.

I hit something hard and flopped to the ground. I looked up to yell at Donnie for stopping short, but all I saw was a wall. _Did I seriously just run into a wall? _Just the thought that I actually had made me begin to hysterically crack up.

As I laughed, Donnie's head poked out from behind the wall. "Why are you laughing?" he asked in confusion. "And why are you on the ground?"

I paused for air, and between laughs, choked out, "I ran into a wall!" The first thing out of the genius turtle's mouth wasn't a laugh, like mine had been.

Instead, the first words out of his mouth were, "Are you okay?! Oh jese, did you get hurt?! Oh God, oh God…" I rolled my eyes.

"I'm fine Donnie, stop being so high-strung!" I said, another laugh escaping my lips. He looked at me incredulously.

"I am not high strung!" he argued. "I get worried more often than my brothers, but that doesn't mean I'm worried about everything! I get worried mostly when it comes to your safety!" he quickly brought his hands up and clamped them completely over his mouth as I took a second to process what he said. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was cut off when he blurted, "Let'sforgetIsaidthat!"

"Agreed." He held out his hand to help me up, and I took it, trying to hide my reluctance as he did the same with his blush. As soon as I was up, he let go of my hand and we continued on in silence. Every now and then I would look over at my best friend, and every time he would be looking at the ground, trying not to make eye contact with me.

I was finally forced to go to desperate measures. I moved closer to Donnie until my left arm was brushing against his right. He stiffened until his back was completely straight, and he seemed as if he wanted to stop walking, but he continued taking forced steps. I inwardly groaned. Why was he so hard to catch off guard?

I didn't want to go any farther. He was obviously feeling awkward about what he had said earlier. "Donnie," I said. "I told you we could forget that happened. What's the big deal? Is there something I should know?"

He had stopped walking now. His green face was a funny shade of pinkish crimson. "U-um, uh, n-no," he stammered, bringing his hand up behind his head like he did when he was nervous or embarrassed. I looked at him inquiringly.

"Are you s-" I started, but Donnie clamped his hand over my mouth. I raised my eyebrow as he brought his finger to his lips in a 'shh' gesture.

"I heard something," as if the purple clad mutant's words were a cue, several Foot ninjas jumped up from where the fire escape would be. Donnie stepped in front of me and drew his staff from its place on his back. I did the same with my tessen.

We stood back to back, in fighting stances, surrounded by the rival clan. "Don't make me save you again like with the monkey," I teased.

He glanced over his shoulder at me, a small smile on his face. "Way to make a guy feel good inside." Of course this made a smile tug at my lips as well.

"Let's do this."

"Agreed." Donnie was the first to strike. He moved swiftly as I tried to do the same. I wasn't nearly as successful, but I managed to not look like a complete failure.

We practically danced around the rooftop, working as a team to take out all of the enemies. It felt great, putting my skills to use like that. I wanted to do it forever.

As I palm- punched one of the Foot soldiers in the face, another rammed into me with the force of a freight train, sending me flying. As I fell through the air, I closed my eyes and braced my body for a painful impact. But it never came.

Instead, I was still falling. Falling off the building.

As I fell past the edge of the building, I opened my eyes, and all I saw was the helicopter I had fallen from so many months ago. I closed my eyes again and braced myself for the impact that would end my life. I had about three sec-

"Gotcha!"

The back of my neck slammed into something, and I was no longer falling.

I opened my eyes to see Donatello hanging off of the roof, his large hand cupping my head as I dangled above the streets of New York. His pupils had contracted, like they always did when he was scared to death, and he was breathing heavily. I stared at him for a while before he let down his other hand and pulled me back up onto the roof, never removing his hand from the back of my head.

When I was on my feet again, I looked deep into his chocolaty- red eyes, and he stared into my sky blue ones.

"How many times are gonna need to catch me?" I asked. He smiled.

"You know I would never let you fall." He paused. "A-April, th-there's something I-I need to tell you," he started up again, quietly and nervously. My heart began to speed up in my chest and I waited and silently urged him to continue.

"Well, you see, I sorta, um, have always h-had a sort o-of crush on you, and I-I've wanted t-to tell you f-for a while, a-and… um," he sighed. "April, please just give me this." My eyes widened as he leaned down and placed a small, nervous, but loving kiss on my lips. He quickly pulled away. He blushed profusely and gave me a nervous smile as I realized what he had just done.

Donnie had confessed. The one thing I was sure he would never do, he just did.

I stared at my best friend. He had to have had more courage than anyone else in the world at that moment. I opened my mouth to give him my honest opinion, but all that came out was a small squeak and a blush blossoming on my cheeks. I cleared my throat.

"Donnie," I began, "I have never felt that way about you." I could almost see his heart sink as he spoke.

"I know," he said sadly. "After all, why would anyone feel that way about a monstrosity like me?" He gestured to himself, and I felt bad for him. I was surprised when he turned and began to walk away. Out of instinct, I lashed out and grabbed his wrist. He turned back to face me, and I grasped his hand.

"But," I said, "Tonight, you made me realize something. You made me realize that I have room in my heart for one more. I have room in my heart to be more than friends with you, Donnie. You didn't let me finish. I said 'I have never felt that way about you'. But what I was going to say was 'I have never felt that way about you. Until tonight'." I smiled at him, and his sad face broke into a huge grin. I stepped closer and wrapped my arms around the purple clad turtle. He did the same to me.

My smile widened, and I realized something. The second he had confessed and made me realize how I really felt about him, he had caught me from the emotional pit of despair I had been falling into.

He really would never let me fall.

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**_Done! can't wait to see the reviews this'll get. If you leave one, thanks. If you don't that's okay, thanks for reading my story!_**

**_Sorry the ending was kind of rushed; I got lazy. I made him catch her like that because I went to see Cirque du Soleil the other day and the trapeze artists were AMAZING. The way the guy held the girl on the trapeze bar made me think 'hey, what if Donnie caught April like that once?'. And so I wrote this._**


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